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PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan)- Pittsburgh Pirates General Manager Neal Huntington joined Greg Brown today for his weekly show on The Fan.

Huntington and Manager Clint Hurdle were both offered three-year extensions. The announcement was made yesterday prior to the Pirates/Cardinals game.

“It means we get to continue our hard work,” Huntington said. “These extensions are a reflection of the hard work by a huge number of people in this organization. We will look to put the next dominoes in place to try an bring a championship to the City of Pittsburgh.”

Huntington knew that it was going to be an uphill job when he began the process of rebuilding this team from the ground up in 2007. He also knows the fans were not always in his corner.

“We made no short cuts along the way,” Huntington said. “We have challenged this fan base, but we had to stay the course. We believed in what we were doing.”

Huntington also knows the job is far from over, but it’s a good start.

“We have done it one time, but we have to do it again,” Huntington said. “We keep working every single day to try and build a world championship team.”

Huntington also talked to Greg about the makeup of this team out of Spring Training and how they made the decision to go with Travis Ishikawa and send Andrew Lambo back to AAA Indianapolis. They also decided to cut Vin Mazzaro, who was a key member of the bullpen last year.

Huntington also said that it’s way too early to be concerned with the struggling offense, saying it usually takes about 40 days to really get an idea of where you are.

“We have some guys who are turning the corner. We just have to stay with it,” Huntington said.

Huntington did not have good news on one of the Pirates star pitchers – Jameson Taillon.

“We sought out multiple opinions on the different treatment options some including surgery and some not and he (Taillon) has decided with our blessing to go ahead and have Tommy John surgery,” Huntington said. “Typically, these will be 12-18 months.”

Huntington also told Greg that despite the news, they would expect him to be back next year even better than he was before.

“Obviously, it is not the best of news,” Huntington said. “It’s hard not to dream about Cole and Taillon being in this rotation, but the dream will be delayed a bit.”